Gargoyles: Pendragon Eye of the Tiger
by Gryphinwyrm7
Summary: Sir Griff and Tea Gora end up in India, on the hunt for a were-tiger. But what they find, is nothing like what it seems.
1. Tha's Curse

**Gargoyles: Pendragon**

 **Eye of the Tiger Part 1**

 _The Bengal tiger silently stalked her prey through the jungle. She was a rare breed. A wild white tiger, padding through the forest floor, stalking the lone buck. It was the dry season, and she was hungry. Food was scarce for all. If she didn't eat soon, then she would never eat again._

 _She padded quietly into a long abandoned set of ruins, four standing stones in the center of the ruins. The buck spotted her white and black fur coming, and then bounded over the wall. She was too far away to catch him. She could move fast when she wanted to, but tigers are ambush predators. She needed to be closer._

 _Then she heard a soft trumpeting sound nearby. The tiger turned her head in surprise. A baby elephant was also within the ruins, quietly trumpeting for the rest of its herd. She heard them trumpet in the distance._

 _They were too far away._

 _She licked her lips and started towards the elephant calf. It squeaked in terror and darted inside the temple. The tiger padded up the steps, quietly walking into the temple. Her prey cowered in the corner._

 _She coiled back, preparing to pounce._

 _There was a flash of light on the altar next to where the elephant calf cowered in fear. The tiger looked up. The light was coming from atop the altar next to her cowering prey. A statue of an elephant-headed human with six arms; the elephant's eyes and tusks were glowing green._

 _There was another flash of light, and the tiger's world was shattered._

Sir "Nick" Natsilane Koyah leaned up against the doorway.

"Leaving so soon?" Nick asked Rory Dugan, frowning. "If you didn't want me to be your roommate, you could have just said so."

"Okay, I don't want you to be my roommate," Rory said dryly. Then smirked back at the hurt look that Nick gave him.

"I'm kidding," he said reassuringly. "You're great. But I promised my da that I'd still be helping him around the house. Plus there's scattered Fomorii all over Ireland left over from Mab's attempted takeover of Avalon. Not to mention that Maeve is still out there somewhere too, licking her wounds. Crazy psycho Mab-worshipper."

Nick nodded knowingly.

"I'm supposed to be the bloody hero of Ulster," Rory continued. "So it's my responsibility to track 'em down and round 'em up for Bres."

"What about your responsibilities here?" Nick asked curiously.

"I told Arthur when he knighted me, that my responsibility to Ireland would always have to come first," Rory said. "'I wouldn't want you on the Round Table if they weren't' he told me. S'what actually made me want to be one of his Knights."

"England and Ireland have a long history of hating each other," Rory continued. "But I think if Cu had met Arthur back in th' day. He'd have been going on and on about 'th' one good Briton.'"

"Don't worry," Rory said chuckling. "I'll be back in three weeks, occupying the other bunk and getting into your hair in no time."

"Why _do_ we have to share rooms?" Rabbi Loew said, wandering out of the room that he shared with Fara Maku across the hall. "This castle is huge. Why do we have roommates and not private quarters?"

"You might, eventually," Macbeth said, entering the hall. "But you have to remember that this castle was an Illuminati stronghold for over 1,500 years. Who knows who might have lived within these walls in that time? Dark sorcerers like Duval? Or worse. King Arthur wants Merlin to vet every single room in the castle before allowing us to move in, metaphorically and literally. Thus far the wizard has properly examined only four bedrooms. So, we share. Speaking of the wizard, he wishes to see us in the courtyard."

"Arthur gets to sleep alone," Fara muttered. "And in the biggest bedchamber."

"Arthur is the King, whom we swore fealty to," Tea said joining them from the other hallway, which from the room which she was now sharing with Fleur, the former queen of the very castle they were occupying.

"And besides," Macbeth said. "He's not alone. He's sharing the chamber with both Merlin and myself."

"You're leaving today, though," Fara countered.

"Merlin slept for centuries inside his Crystal Cave," Macbeth countered. "Which has given him the worst case of insomnia in any human being alive. Trust me, the Rabbi's snoring is a gift compared to the wizard's constant pacing."

"Hey!" Rabbi Loew said, vaguely offended as the entourage of Arthur's 21rst Century Knights came down the stairs and entered the castle courtyard.

Above the castle was a massive dome, with what appeared to be a bright blue sky filled with wispy clouds. At least if you didn't look too closely. A closer examination would show that the 'sky' had a strange lattice of hexagonal panels, with the blue coloring, and wispy clouds projecting onto them from nano-projectors within.

The dome itself was ten miles in diameter, and actually rested in the middle of an Antarctic wasteland. But you couldn't tell from the inside, which was a balmy 78 degrees, and littered with tropical plants imported from Guatemala, and a small spring that wound its way through the artificial jungle and emptied into the castle moat.

The castle, formerly Castle Carbonek, before the enchantments that kept it mobile had been removed, rested in the exact center of the dome. Metal catwalks extended outwards from all of the castle entrances, forming a spider-web like path over and through the jungle surrounding the castle.

In the castle courtyard, King Arthur was talking to Fleur—The estranged wife of Peredur Fab Ragnal, the Fisher King. Next to them was Merlin, the mirthful mage dressed in light red leather, and leaning on his staff, listening in on Arthur and Fleur's conversation.

Behind them, by the portcullis, Macbeth's harrier jet sat, the back open. Macbeth had been ferrying the knights, and supplies to this location.

Next to the harrier jet were two stone statues, one, apparently that of a griffin dressed in leather, and the other, vaguely resembling a large mastiff or bulldog with webbed ears, and spurs down its back.

The 'sun' or at least the artificial construct that was acting as the sun was lazily drifting down behind the castle. The sky blue was fading into deeper purple, and artificial stars were starting to be projected onto the dome's interior.

Macbeth quietly joined his fellow royals as the knights fell into step with one another and made there way over toward the harrier jet.

The sun finished setting, and a web of cracks began to form on the two stone figures. There was a frightening roar as the gargoyle and beast awakened, shedding their stone skin, and becoming flesh and blood once more.

"Evening knights," Griff said, flashing his cohorts his rakish, beaky grin.

"S'up, Sir Griff?" Nick said casually. The knights all liked Griff. For a number of reasons; firstly, he was Arthur's 'First Knight' and thus most trusted knight. It also meant that Griff was the go-between for Arthur and any one of them. Not that they usually needed a go-between. While Arthur was quite formal in his mannerisms, he treated every man, woman, and gargoyle as an equal, and anyone who spoke to him noticed it immediately. It was one of the many reasons he won respect and admiration from each of them without even really trying.

However, when chatting with Macbeth and Fleur, he could sometimes get caught up in talking to them. Immortal kings and queens have much in common, and may not notice the time slipping by. So when that happened, Griff was happy to interject on behalf of the Knights. Griff's jovial nature, and swash-buckling attitude was the other reason he was so well liked by the other knights.

He acted like a flying ace from the 1940s, ready to take on the Nazis. Probably because he was a flying ace from the 1940s, who battled Nazis.

The beast, upon awakening, had immediately bounded over to Rory, and nuzzled up against him. She was jet black, with the same glowing red eyes as all female gargoyle beasts. Her body looked remarkably similar to Bronx, the beast of the Manhattan clan, though she was somewhat larger.

She had hatched from an egg five years prior, and Rory had raised her himself. She was as fiercely loyal to him as any beast from Xanadu might have been towards their gargoyle partners.

Rory called her 'Berghest' because he hadn't been feeling especially creative when he'd named her. The name had stuck, however, and she wouldn't react to any attempts to rename her that he had made.

"Hey girl," he said, scratching her behind her fan-like ears. "How you doing sweetheart?"

"Are you ready, Sir Dugan?" Arthur asked, breaking away from the other two royals.

"Aye sire," he said. "All packed and ready to go."

"Before you go," Merlin said, with a twinkle in his eye. "I have something to show you all."

"Yes," Arthur mused. "So you keep telling us, Merlin. As long as I don't end up spending the afternoon as a penguin."

"Please, Arthur," Merlin said, leading them toward a pair of doors on the far end of the courtyard. "If anything, I would transform you into leopard seal. Far more interesting beasties."

"What's this?" Griff wondered.

"Long ago," Merlin said. "I suspect that it lead down to a gargoyle rookery."

"Maybe it will again, some day," Rory said, gently nudging Griff.

"Now it leads below the dome," Merlin said, as the temperature sharply dropped.

"You could have warned us," Tea said, suddenly cuddled up to Fara. "Some of us are not dressed for this cold."

"Apologies," Merlin said. "I'm having the Master Matrix fabricate heaters for us, but, well…It doesn't possess an unlimited supply of nanites like her brother-program. So the fabrication has been slow. But the reason I brought you down here is not."

"The Antarctic Dance?" Griff asked, as they entered a massive chamber. There was ice and crystal covering the walls, but in the center was a massive stone structure, covered with indecipherable runes.

Ever the scholar, Rabbi Loew walked over to the stones and began looking them over.

"Arthur and I saw this artifact before the Castle came to rest here. Back during the initial search for the Holy Grail. There's a similar monument in Wyvern, Scotland, where Goliath's clan originated. Which we discovered back when we were searching for you."

"Indeed," Merlin said, smiling. "Did it ever make you wonder why such monuments existed?"

"Somewhat," Griff confessed. "Goliath said that the stones turned the humans who betrayed his clan into vengeful ghosts. Then they tried to turn him into a ghost while they became flesh again."

Merlin blinked.

"Well…Yes…I suppose that it COULD do that. But that's not what it is _meant_ to do," the wizard said.

"The stones act as massive magical capacitors, and form a massive network between every other Dance around the world. Might I direct your attention to the globe."

Merlin gestured towards a large antique globe near the entrance, resting in the center of several crystals.

"That thing is like…Five centuries out of date," Nick said, somewhat dismissively.

Merlin reached over and placed a hand on the globe. Suddenly, a blue holographic globe appeared above the wooden antique. The holographic globe was more accurate than the antique. There were several green and red dots scattered over the face of the planet.

"Happy, now, Nick?" Merlin asked.

"A little," he replied. "What's going on here?"

"I've combined Science and Sorcery to create this Globe," he said. "The glowing dots represent other Dances all over the actual earth."

"There's Wyvern Hill," Griff said, peering closer to the holo-image. "Why is it red?"

"Means that the Dance there is damaged," Merlin said. "I'll have to repair it before we can use it."

"Use it for what?" Nick asked.

"For the network, of course," Merlin said grinning.

"Network of WHAT?" Nick demanded.

"Network of Stone Dances," Merlin said.

"I think that this one is Stonehenge," Griff said, still peering closely at the holographic globe. He reached up and touched the glowing green dot.

Instantly the Antarctic Dance in front of them lit up. The runes glowing soft blue. Arcs of magical electricity began flowing between the stones. Rabbi Loew, suddenly looked up in surprise.

"You'll be fine," Merlin called out to him. "Don't cross the lines of power."

"What is happening?!" Loew demanded. Suddenly the Rabbi shifted…Becoming transparent.

"Merlin!" he said looking down at his hands, and then up at the wizard again. Then in a heartbeat, he vanished.

"MERLIN!" Griff said, suddenly. "Where did the rabbi go?"

"Stonehenge, I'd wager," Merlin said, grinning like a madman.

"What?" Several of the knights demanded at once.

"Well that IS the Dance that Sir Griff touched," Merlin said. "So unless the repair spells that I set into place were off somehow, which they weren't because I'm me. Then our little lost Rabbi is in Stonehenge."

"You mean to tell us," Rory said, frowning. "That you used magic rocks, in order to build a transporter from Star Trek?"

"I don't know what any of those words mean," Merlin said. "But yes, the Dances are now a massive transportation network. Should save time from having to wait for Macbeth's little flying toy to get to wherever you need to be."

"How do we get him back?" Griff inquired.

"Oh I don't know how to do that yet." Merlin said. "The Antarctic Dance is the keystone for the network. But there's no way to cause the exo-dances to return the person or object sent through the network to return here. At least not yet."

Griff gripped his temples in exasperation.

"So you just used one of my Knights as a guinea pig?"

"No," Merlin said. "I used guinea pigs as guinea pigs. Of course I TESTED the network before bringing you down here. I _know_ it works. It just doesn't bring things back."

"Yet," He added hastily.

"I hate you, so much," Griff said.

"You're sure he's fine?" Fleur asked frowning.

"It's not that we don't trust you, Teacher," Arthur started to say.

"No, no, your majesty," Griff said. "It's okay. We don't trust you. Between the random animal transformations, experimental spells, and vaporizing my knights…I've begun to suspect that your reputation is GREATLY exaggerated."

"Sir Griff," Arthur said sternly.

"Your knight is not wrong," Merlin said quietly. "I have not conducted myself with…With the decorum that I did back during the days of old Camelot. I have been…Strained. What Nimue did to me…It broke my mind. He is just saying what all have been thinking. Even myself. I've gone mad."

Fleur's cell phone suddenly rang. She picked it up, and held up her index finger.

"Ze Master Matrix has just relayed a call to my phone," she said. "It's Rabbi Loew. He is okay. He is in England. At Stonehenge."

"Mad or not," Rory pointed out. "It does do what he said it would."

Merlin appeared to brighten slightly at this.

"As simply, and without as much magical jargon as you can," Nick said. "How does this thing work?"

Merlin had to think about it for a second.

"The stones convert you into spirit. Transports your spirit along ley lines to a receiving Dance, and then converts your spirit back into flesh."

Nick mulled this over in his head. While he had become accustomed to the existence of Magic, and the Spiritual, he had also realized that just because they existed, didn't mean that they didn't have rules of their own. So he frequently found himself applying the Scientific Method to the study of magic.

It had lead to several victories during Mab's assault on Avalon.

"You combined Science and Sorcery to set this up?" Nick said, frowning. He quickly pulled his laptop out of his backpack and opened it up. "Really all you need then, is some kind of remote beacon. Something that can tap the Master Matrix, and send a signal to activate this globe-console, and activate it again; pulling any travelers inside the exo-dance back to New Camelot."

Merlin, who had looked rather upset moments before, was now interested in whatever Nick was bringing up on his laptop.

"Master Matrix," Nick said. "I'm sending you a rough design. Can you fabricate it?"

There was a pinging noise in the air.

"I can fabricate one prototype device," the Master Matrix's feminine voice declared. "With the nanites that I have in stock. In order to fabricate more, I will require several more hours to manufacture more nanites."

"That's fine," Nick said. "One will do."

"I'm going to run to the fabrication room," Nick said. "I'll be right back."

Nick bolted up the stairs. Merlin paused, but then bolted after him.

"Lad," Macbeth said, turning towards Rory. "We have to get going. We want to be in Ireland before your beastie turns back to stone."

"Wait," Rory said. "Merlin's thing DOES work. And it looks like there's a transporter pad—Irish Dance—In Ireland, IN Ulster."

"It is one of the only green ones," Fara said. "There's one in Nigeria too, but it's red."

"Looks like only," Griff paused counting up the green lights. "Sixteen Dances are still functional."

"Before Merlin repairs them," Arthur commented. "And he will repair them."

"You think," Griff muttered.

"Why don't Berghest and I just use the Dance to get home?" Rory asked. "It will save you a stop, and it will be a proper test of the network."

Griff looked somewhat exasperated.

"All right mate, you won't hear any objection from me, if you want to take the chance," Griff said.

Macbeth shrugged.

Rory whistled, and Berghest bounded over to his side, before stepping into the Dance.

Griff walked over and touched the green dot in Ireland.

The Dance lit up again.

"What the hell?!" Nick yelled, having returned from upstairs.

"Th' Irish dance is green," Rory called out, even as he turned transparent.

"SO!?" Nick yelped, running over to his laptop. "You don't know where the Irish Dance actually IS! It could be in a cave that's been sealed up so long the air isn't breathable! Or at the bottom of a lake!"

Rory had just enough time to look panicked before he and Berghest vanished.

"Maybe we should have run more tests on the system before allowing people to step inside the Dance?" Merlin suggested.

Griff and Nick shot him a dirty look.

"We already know that Loew is fine," Griff said. "Fleur called Una and told her where he was. Let's focus on getting to Rory. And then, let's try transporting some cameras _to_ and _from_ each Dance before we go jumping on the platform all willy-nilly."

"Best plan I've heard all day," Nick said, as the rest of the knights slowly began backing out of the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tea leaned back in her chair, staring blankly at the wall of computer screens. Each one displayed various images from around the globe. Most were rather mundane.

New Camelot had been established with a global defense in mind. If someone, anyone, anywhere needed help against forces that they couldn't deal with under ordinary circumstances, then that's when the Knights were meant to mobilize.

While there were all sorts of things happening all over the world that would catch the Master Matrix's search perimeters, most were not worth responding to, although Arthur also allowed any knight on monitor duty to actively join any quest that they wanted. If Tea wanted to hunt down a Nigerian pickpocket, she was free to do so.

She didn't want to, though. Mostly she was bored. It was quiet, bordering on dull. Very little was happening anywhere in the world. Nothing more than the usual petty crimes and standard tyranny (and as Arthur put it, they were not in the business of toppling governments, no matter how corrupt, at least at the moment. They simply didn't have the resources.)

Then an image caught her eye.

India, from 30 minutes prior. A young girl was running from a gang of thugs. A strange green glow…And then a tiger was chasing the thugs.

"Master Matrix," she snapped suddenly. "What was that? Did…Did that girl turn INTO a tiger?"

"Unknown," the computer said. "The quality of the security video is too poor for a proper analysis."

"If Anansi or some other creature of the Third Race has cursed that girl…" she said. "She will need help learning to cope with her new form…and…"

 _Punishing the spider—fairy—whatever you call it—responsible for the change,_ she thought.

"Submitting a Quest Request," Tea said.

"Request noted," the Master Matrix informed her. "However King Arthur and Queen Blanchefleur are occupied in Ireland at the moment. Arthur will not be able to approve your request until he returns."

Tea growled at the computer, some of her panther slipping out.

"What about Griff?" she asked. "He's got the authority to approve a quest in Arthur's absence, right?"

"Affirmative," the Master Matrix responded. "Sir Griff is in the Antarctic Dance chamber."

Tea jumped to her feet and ran back to the room she'd been sharing with Fleur. After quickly gathering up both of her bowie knives, she then grabbed her rifle. Though obviously as a were-panther, her standard arsenal was her teeth and claws, Tea tried to resist the change most of the time. She didn't embrace the panther-form like Fara Maku did.

Fara spent as much time as a panther as he did a human. Tea preferred to remain human if at all possible. And she was a crack shot with her Ruger and using the weapons of humans in combat helped her mentally retain her humanity. Something she prized.

She strapped her rifle onto her back and ran down to the courtyard, and then through the doors to the Antarctic Dance Chamber.

Griff was at the bottom of the stairs, along with Merlin. Griff was fidgeting with what appeared to be a black wristwatch., with no actual watch face on it. It had a cover with Arthur's dragon-crest inscribed upon it, which, when opened, revealed a large red button.

"Can you repeat that, your majesties?" Griff asked into his radio, examining the odd looking watch. "I can't quite hear you….Yes, the Master Matrix was able to fabricate another one of Nick's recall devices, but I've no idea if it will work or not…Hang on."

"Yes Tea?" Griff asked, turning towards Tea.

"What is happening?" Tea asked.

"Irish dance is underground," Griff said. "Fairly deep. And sealed up, like we feared. Nick's recall device isn't producing a strong enough signal to return them. MM fabricated another one, but I don't know if it's going to work either. And if it doesn't…"

"Then you'll be just as trapped as the others when you go through," Tea said. "Maybe you can test it by going to a different Dance?"

"Not a bad thought," Griff said. "And I take it from your hunting gear that you have a Quest Request for me?"

"A security camera from India," Tea acknowledged. "May have caught sight of a girl transform into a tiger."

"And you think she might be a kindred spirit, like yourself?" Griff said.

"I think that she may require my help," Tea answered diplomatically.

"There IS an active Dance in India," Merlin pointed out.

Tea bristled.

"Relax," Griff said. "Merlin and Nick have done enough tests to know that the transportation process is actually completely safe for the travelers. It's getting back that's the bugger."

"I'm willing to take on this challenge, on my own," Tea said.

"Two to a quest, minimum," Griff said frowning. "That's the rule. Arthur doesn't want anyone going anywhere without backup. Where's your boyfriend?"

"With all due respect," Tea argued. "I do not want Fara backing me up on this quest. It's too personal. Too much bad…Too many memories."

"Macbeth already left," Griff said. "Arthur, Rory, Nick, and Fleur are all in Ireland. Loew's still in England. There's no one else to go with you."

"There's you," Merlin pointed out.

Griff turned and looked at the wizard.

"And leave you here to transform them into dormice while I'm gone?"

"I won't turn them into dormice…Again," Merlin said. "We have to trust one another eventually, Griff. After all, we both trust Arthur, right? Then we need to trust his judgment is correct. He chose you as his first Knight, so I trust that choice. Will you not give me the same benefit of the doubt?"

"Please Griff," Tea asked. "I must do this. For myself as well as the ti-girl."

"Fine," Griff said. "I know where I'm outvoted, and we _do_ need to test Nick's recall device."

The gargoyle trotted up to the Antarctic Dance and stood between the four pillars. Tea took a deep breath, and then quietly joined him.

Merlin touched India's glowing green dot on the holo-globe.

Arcs of magical energy flowed between the pillars, and the room seemed to drain of all feeling. Tea looked down at her body. It was transparent. She could see right through herself.

Then the Stone Chamber became intangible, before shifting to black, which then gave way to shades of grey...and then color was added…And then Tea found herself standing in the middle of a ruin of standing stones that had been swallowed up almost completely by the jungle. She couldn't see a path past the brightly lit jungle that they had emerged into.

"Oh bugger, didn't think this through," Griff said suddenly, before promptly turning to stone.

Tea sighed quietly. Now she was stuck here guarding Griff's stone form while he slept. _A task easier said than done_ , she realized, as she was just now noticing four orange and black striped tigers emerging from the jungle, and converging upon their position.

Tea took aim at the nearest one with her Ruger. And fired…

 _ **To be Continued…**_


	2. Tha's Blessing

**Gargoyles: Pendragon**

 **Eye of the Tiger Part 2**

Tea fired a shot into the air. She no intention of actually shooting the tigers. Tea had spent enough of her life poaching endangered species. She had no intention of continuing.

She fired a warning shot, in hopes that it might scare the beasts off, but to no avail. The big cats circled closer to her.

She put down her rifle, and leaned it up against Griff's stone form. If the gun wouldn't scare the tigers off, then she was going to have to face them on their own terms. Her body glowed and she fell forward onto all fours, her lithe panther form replacing her human shape.

This brought an immediate reaction from the tigers. It angered them. They snarled and surged towards her. Tea bared her fangs, and extended her claws, ready to fight for her life.

It was unnecessary. A large white tiger bounded into the monolith Dance, bigger than all four of the orange tigers. The white tiger roared at them, and they immediately turned and ran.

The tiger looked at Tea meaningfully, and then bolted off into the jungle.

Tea glanced back at Griff's stone form, but felt confident that he'd be safe here by himself. They were in the middle of a jungle, and she could smell no human scents for miles. Unless the tigers started using sledgehammers in the next 8 hours, Griff would be fine.

She bounded into the jungle after the tiger.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It took little effort to realize that the white tiger _wanted_ Tea to follow her. There was no other reason that a big cat would leave a trail so obvious through the jungle. In fact, Tea felt confident that when Griff awakened, that he'd be able to track their trail with little difficulty.

They came upon a human village. Not a large village, and clearly quite poor, based upon the construction of the houses, but a human village nonetheless.

The tiger shot up a nearby tree, and then bounded across several rooftops before leaping down in front of a small hut on the far end of the village.

Tea quickly and quietly followed suit, noticing a bright green glow flashing from the hut's windows.

Tea landed in front of the hut, and bounded inside. An elderly woman in a sari sat by the fire, cooking some sort of golden liquid. It smelled divine.

A wide-eyed nineteen-year old girl dressed in a pure white sari stood by the window, looking at her. Tea couldn't help but notice her bright blue eyes, contrasted to her deep brown skin…The same color as the brew that the elderly woman was cooking.

"Are you like me, Leopard?" the nineteen-year old girl asked in English. "Are you cursed?"

Tea's body glowed and she resumed her human shape.

"Yes," Tea said. "By Anansi. The spider."

The younger girl nodded tearfully. "Tha. The Elephant. For the crime of hunting one of his children in his temple. I wouldn't have normally…But the drought…I was so hungry…And the elephant looked so good…"

"I hate this form," she said. "Humans are so clumsy, their senses so weak. I begged Tha for mercy, and he granted it. So long as I protected his children from the hunters, I would be allowed to resume my true shape for short periods of time."

Tea's mind reeled for a moment. Trying to process exactly what the girl had said.

Then she remembered the story of the Panther Queen. How the first Were-Panther had been a panther-turned-human, and not the other way around.

"You're…A tiger," she marveled.

"After Tha transformed her," the old woman said, speaking up for the first time. "She came and sought me. I have helped tigers in the past. Freeing them from poacher's traps, feeding them in the dry season."

"But she could not help me with…With this," the younger girl said, glaring at her human hands.

"I…Can sympathize," Tea said cautiously.

"I named the child Parvati Khanata," the elder said.

"I do not want a human name," Parvati spat.

"Parvati is the goddess of love, and connection to all living things," the elder woman said. "It suited her."

"I refuse to accept being human!" Parvati screamed.

"Tell us your story child," the elder said.

"It's…It is a long story," Tea admitted.

"We have time before the Makhini finishes cooking," the elder said.

"My name is Tea Gora," Tea said quietly. "And my story begins long ago, long before I was born, with the tale of the proud panther queen…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You lied!" Parvati screamed as Tea drew her long tale to a close.

"I did not," Tea responded.

"You told me you were a panther curse by Anansi! Not a human—Poacher—cursed by Anansi," Parvati shrieked back at her.

"No," Tea said. "I said I was cursed by Anansi. And I am. Forever more."

"You are not a panther!" Parvati said, recoiling away from the Nigerian woman.

"But I am," Tea said. "I am both. A human and a Panther. I walk in both worlds."

"Are you?" the elder woman asked quietly.

"What?" Tea asked.

"You shun your panther side," the elder said. "You pretend that you aren't both. You carry knives instead of using your claws, you use a gun instead of your teeth. You don't walk both worlds. You pretend to be human. Your Fara Maku—He understands."

Neither Tea nor Parvati spoke.

"Fara spends as much time as a panther as he does a human," Griff said, quietly stepping into the hut.

"You left this behind," the gargoyle said, handing Tea's rifle to her. Tea looked surprised, and glanced outside, surprised by how long her story had taken, and how dark it was.

"I've seen Fara wandering through the jungles of New Camelot," Griff said. "I've seen him lying asleep on the castle parapets in panther form. He's embraced both halves of his nature. You…on the other hand. You focus on being human. You use human weapons so you don't have to use your natural ones."

"What does that matter?!" Tea snapped.

"It doesn't," Griff said. "You're free to be as human or as not-human as you like. Just as she's free to be as tiger or not-tiger as she likes. Speaking objectively as someone who isn't a member of either species, it doesn't matter to me if you prefer one shape over the other. But you can't pretend that you walk the line between the two shapes when you play-act like one doesn't exist."

"It's not what you are," Griff continued. "Or what gifts you are given that determine your fate. It's how you chose to use those gifts."

"Parvati" turned and looked at Griff.

"You speak wisely, Garuda," the elder said. "Would you join us for dinner? My Mahkini has just finished cooking."

"Well," Griff said grinning. "I do love Indian food, and I am a bit peckish. I'd be honored to join you."

"You like Indian food?" Tea asked, cocking her eyebrow.

"There's an Indian place across the street from _Into the Mystic_ ," Griff said. "After we started patrolling Soho, they'd send us free food. It was amazing."

He took a bit of naan, dipped it in the golden liquid. "Mmmm. Just like this. Thank you ma'am. Devine."

"What did you call him?" Tea asked.

"He is a Garuda," the elder woman gestured towards a tapestry on her wall.

"Long ago, this valley was inhabited by three clans of _paranaala;_ the creatures that you know of as gargoyles," the woman continued. Griff and Tea walked over to the tapestry, examining the intricate, exquisite images woven into it.

"The Garuda Clan controlled the land north of the river. They were tall, eagle-like, with wings and beaks, much like your friend. They believed that they were descendants of the god Garuda, which is why they called their clan as such."

"South of the river lay the Naga Clan. Serpentine and savage, they believed themselves descendants of Kadru, the serpentine goddess. They hated the Garuda clan, and so the two clans went to war."

"Gargoyles, at war with other gargoyles?" Griff said, sounding horrified.

"Such was the sentiment of the third clan of the valley," the woman said. They were the smallest, and dwelt within the small temple down the river from us."

"I think that temple is where we arrived," Griff commented.

"It is also where the travelers arrived," the elder said. "Three gargoyles from far away, and their two beasts."

"Brooklyn," Griff said, examining the stylized drawings upon the tapestry. "I'd bet my life on it. I wonder who his friends are, though. Because that's certainly not Katana and Nashville."

"The white one was a sorcerer," the elder continued. "He created a spell to end the Clan-War. He cast a spell upon the Naga and Garuda clans. Forcing them to sleep. Sleep until the river no longer cleaved this land. Both clans became stone upon the battlefield, and the travelers were whisked away—As they say—On the back of the true Garuda himself."

"Sounds like a standard high level spell," Griff said. "Sleep until the river goes away. Sleep until the castle rises above the clouds. Till Kingdom Come, basically."

"Indeed," she said, frowning. "Save for one small problem."

Tea and Griff looked at the elder.

"A damn was built up the river, to provide power to the cities and villages," she said, quietly. "Combined with this drought…The river is almost all dried up. Almost gone. The spell may be broken very soon. The war might be returning."

Griff and Tea exchanged a glance.

"I have been trying to convince Parvati to seek the battlefield where the spell was first cast," to find it and protect us from the war. When the Garudas and Nagas fought, the valley shook, and all suffered, man and beast alike."

"You want me to accept being human," Parvati spat. "By pitting me against the common enemy of men and beasts."

"I do not deny it," the matriarch replied.

"We…might want to check this out," Griff said, quietly.

"Surely it's just a local legend," Tea said, before realizing how stupid that sounded.

"So is King Arthur, Kara Digi, and were-tigers," Griff said.

"So we should definitely check it out," Tea said.

"You wouldn't happen to know where that battlefield is, would you?" Griff asked.

"It is said to be north of here," the old woman said.

"Do you wish to come with us?" Griff asked Parvati.

The were-tiger hissed at him.

"It's your loss, love," Griff said. He turned towards his hostess. "Thank you for the meal. It was lovely."

"The honor was mine, Garuda," she said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Griff wondered if the escape clause of the spell was not already in effect. He couldn't see any sign of a river at all. Just a dried, cracking bed snaking its way through the dried up and withered jungle. He supposed that there must be water somewhere though…

"You all right?" Griff asked, holding Tea as they glided over the jungle canopy.

"Yes," Tea replied back. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You can get hostile if you feel you're being attacked," Griff said. "I just wanted to assure you that what I said back there was in no way meant as a slight."

Tea bristled. "I know it wasn't. You said what you saw. Your frankness is one of the things I like about you Sir Griff."

"And I also know that the Tiger's situation hits a little…Close to home."

"If she doesn't want to be helped," Tea said coldly. "We can't force her."

"That's not what I meant," Griff said.

"There!" Tea said, pointing downward. Griff chose not to address the fact that she was avoiding the question. He glided down and landed among the trees.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Griff wagered that 1,200 years ago this dense area of jungle was a massive field. Now it had been overrun by trees and creeper vines. Moss covered gargoyle statues, or at least pieces of them were scattered around the forest floor.

Griff winced upon looking at some of the statues.

"I think that time has done more to stop this Clan-War than we ever could," Griff said.

Most of the stone figures had indeed crumbled, or broken apart.

"I don't understand," Tea said. "Didn't Goliath's clan sleep for a similar length of time?"

"Yes," Griff said. "But Goliath's clan had minimal maintenance over the centuries. Demona and a time-traveling Brooklyn would check in every so often and fix the place up a bit, clean the ivy off the statues, etc. I think these chaps were pretty much forgotten after they were turned to stone."

"Look!" Tea said pointing.

Griff and Tea approached the only two still-intact statues, both frozen in a fighting stance. A tall Garuda in a loincloth holding a spear, preparing to drive it into a stone Naga lying on his back between the legs of the Garuda.

One of the Garuda's wings had been broken off in a storm or something years before, but in every other respect, he was intact. The horrified looking Naga beneath him, was perfectly intact, save a small patch of moss on his belly.

"Guessing that the river hasn't completely dried up," Griff said. "Or the spell on these two might have been broken."

Suddenly a soft blue glow surrounded the two statues. A web of cracks began to spread across both.

"Or…It just dried up now," Griff said, stepping backwards. "Bugger."

There was a triumphant roar from both gargoyles, sending shards of stone skin across the forest. Then, a scream of agony, as the Garuda staggered back, dropping his spear in pain. Now that he was flesh, his fur and feathers were blend of bright yellow and orange-red.

The stump where the Garuda's wing used to be was now bleeding profusely. The Naga realized his advantage, and grabbed the spear and jabbed it into the Garuda's stomach.

"No!" Griff yelped. The Garuda staggered back, the spear still jammed into his stomach. Griff grabbed his Lightning Gun and aimed it at the Naga. He hissed and said something in a language that Griff and Tea couldn't understand.

"I don't speak whatever that is…," Griff stammered.

The Naga said something else, and his eyes flashed green.

"You understand me now?" he demanded.

"What was that…" Tea started to ask, but Griff silenced her with a hand signal. With a second signal he gestured towards the jungle. Tea suddenly realized that the Naga hadn't taken his eyes off of Griff. She nodded silently, and slipped into the forest, transforming as she did.

"Yes," Griff said. "Clever little translation spell. I suppose that charm around your neck is the conduit?"

"Clever little Garuda," the Naga hissed. "Now where is the rest of my clan? Where are the gargoyles of the sword? The sorcerer who cast his spell on us, and that _sthaga_ female?"

"I…Don't know what you are talking about," Griff said. "I am not one of your Garudas. I'm called Griff, of the London clan. And you've been asleep for 1,200 years. Your war ended centuries ago. Both of you. You've no need to carry on fighting. Look around you. You slept in stone, but the centuries kept passing. The jungle claimed every member of your clans except the two of you. Don't you think that it's time to put this petty grudge aside? Do you even remember what it is about?"

"Of COURSE I remember," Naga hissed angrily. "It's about the Purity of the Naga Clan! You, and your disgusting eagle-like Garudas must never mate with and spoil the purity of the Naga bloodline!"

"I really don't like racists," Griff said, cocking his Lightning Gun and training it on the serpentine gargoyle.

"DIE GARUDA!" the Naga hissed, and lunged at Griff. Griff fired his Lightning Gun, which struck the Naga point blank. He violently shook and collapsed to the ground. Griff took the opportunity to run over to the Garuda, who looked up at Griff helplessly, and then back down to the spear embedded in his belly.

His eyes widened, and he tried to speak.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, mate," Griff said, focusing on the first aid training that he'd received from Dell back at Knight's Spur, and ignoring the Naga slithering up behind him.

The Serpentine gargoyle unsheathed a dagger, and raised it, raising it above Griff's back. He spun around before he would have stabbed Griff, and drove the knife into the shoulder of the panther that had lunged out of the grass.

Tea roared in pain and limped over to Griff's side.

"I saw the human go into the forest," the Naga hissed. "You didn't really think that I wasn't expecting an attack, did you?"

"You were pretty focused on me," Griff said.

"All you Garudas are treacherous!" the Naga hissed. "I always expect tricks! Now you _and_ the shapeshifter will both die!"

But before the Naga could move another inch, a massive white tiger surged out of the forest, snarling and clawing at the Naga.

The Naga shrieked, and then bolted away, slithering off into the grass.

The white tiger glowed green and resumed the human form of Parvati Khanata. Tea glowed purple and changed back as well.

"Thank you, my friend," Tea said.

"You said something before," Parvati said, looking at Griff. "You said that it is what you do with the gifts that you've been given. You believe that?"

"It's why I do, what I do," Griff replied.

"I would like…" she hesitated. "I would like to know more about using these gifts. I…think that Tha turned me into a human as a gift. I want to know what he wants me to do with the gift. I think I can learn this from you, and your clan."

"The first thing we can do," Griff said. "Is stop the bleeding, and get this bloke to the Megalith Dance in the Temple down the river, hopefully before he loses too much blood."

Parvati nodded, and ran over to help Griff. She tore off bits of her sari, and handed them to Griff to use as bandages.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The elder matriarch smirked as Parvati, Tea, and Griff hefted the Garuda onto their shoulders and began slowly walking towards the Megalith dance at the temple in the center of the valley.

She smiled to herself, satisfied that this kit had found kindred spirits who would set her off on the right path. After all…This wasn't the first drought that had come to this valley, nor would it be the last. As long as young elephants sought shelter from predators in Tha's temple, then there would always be were-tigers.

A green light surrounded her, and a gnarled old tiger bounded off into the jungle, in the direction of the human village.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nick looked up from his laptop. The Antarctic Dance suddenly lit up, energy and electricity flowing between the stones.

Four transparent figures appeared within the Dance, and slowly solidified into flesh. Then, two of them turned grey, transforming to stone.

"That works," Tea said dryly. She and Parvati gently slid out from under the Garuda's stone arm.

"Yeah," Nick said, checking his laptop. "Still daytime here. Griff should wake up in a few hours, barring jetlag. Who is the other guy?"

"His name is Garuda," Tea said. "And this is…Well, she goes by 'Parvati'."

Tea looked at Parvati, who quietly nodded in confirmation.

"I see you got back from Ireland," Tea commented.

"Yeah," Nick said. "Figured out why the return signal wasn't pinging out. Someone built a tomb on top of the cavern with the Dance in it. Cú Chullain's tomb, actually. Kinda weirded Rory out. Me too for that matter, but Arthur called it destiny. I call it a reason to watch all of Merlin's little experiments from now on."

There was a sound like an explosion above them.

"Which is now my job…Apparently," Nick sighed, exasperatedly. He set his laptop down and ran up the stairs. Parvati quietly watched him go.

"Come on, Parvati," Tea said. "You should meet King Arthur."

"Who is that?" Parvati wondered.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Garuda lay impotently on the Carbonek Infirmary bed. Griff had gone and retrieved 'Doc' a grumpy goat-like gargoyle to look him over. Of course the second, unexpected bout of Stone Sleep had sealed both his wing-wound, as well as the spear-wound. But the fact remained that he was missing his left wing, and he would never get it back.

"That's not true," Griff said, quietly. "My friend Staghart…his mate owns a robotics and cybernetics company. I think that they can arrange for a special prosthetic wing to be constructed for you. You will glide again, I promise you."

Garuda didn't care however, and ignored Griff's attempts to cheer him up. Eventually Griff gave up trying to talk to him, which was fine. The green gargoyle left the room, and then Garuda grabbed the tablet computer that had been left beside his bed table.

"Master Matrix," Garuda said, mimicking Griff's words he had overheard earlier. "Tell me everything about serpentine gargoyles in this century."

An image of the ChacIxchel Pyramid appeared on the screen, along with that of Zafiro and the Mayan Clan's hatchlings.

"Every Naga in the world will pay for what they've done," Garuda said, his eyes flickering white. "Every Naga must die."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naga glided up the dry riverbed, attempting to put as much distance between himself and the two Garudas and their were-panther friends as fast as he could. He noticed a small, strange looking craft sitting in the center of the dried bed.

Feeling that he could take any human craft from their owner with little trouble, he glided down and landed on the craft.

It was then that he saw the owner of the craft, lazily reclining on a throne underneath a canopy.

A dark blue gargoyle in armor and shock-white hair.

"Greetings," he said, not sounding particularly surprised, as what looked like a teenaged Persian human casually fed the gargoyle grapes.

"I am called Thailog," he said. "Welcome to my hovercraft. Would you like a tour?"

Naga smiled. "I'd be honored."

 _ **Never the End…**_


End file.
